Off the Tee: Rickie Fowler Is Overrated No More, Wells Fargo Preview, U.S. Open Qualifying
One of golf's best non-majors ends in a frantic finish, with a player who has plenty to prove emerging victorious. The PGA Tour shifts to North Carolina with some relative unknowns looking to make history. Amateur golfers in Sioux Falls take the first step toward qualifying for June's U.S. Open.
All of those topics, and more, were on the table for this edition of "Off The Tee" with Joel Harrington from 4 Deep Golf Blog. Here are some of the headlines:
- Rickie Fowler, fresh off of being voted one of the most overrated players on the PGA Tour, stormed back to win the Players Championship in a four-hole playoff. Joel says the finish was one of the best the PGA Tour has seen in a long time.
- The victory came as part of a new three-hole playoff format at TPC Sawgrass which Joel says he really likes. He says The Masters' sudden death playoff is too short and the U.S. Open's 18-hole playoff is too long.
- After finishing tied for 69th at the Players Championship, Tiger Woods' game is in shambles. Joel says part of that is TPC Sawgrass, which does not suit Tiger's game very well.
- This week's PGA Tour event is the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte. Joel says the schedule is keeping some of the top players out of the field, giving unproven talent like Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore good chances to win.
- In Sioux Falls this week, Jon Trasamar of Blue Earth, Minnesota, and Brandon Askew of Fountain Hills, Arizona, advanced to sectional qualifying for next month's U.S. Open.
Here's my entire interview with Joel: